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PORTLAND, Ore. — <\/span>U.S. immigration agents in Oregon must stop arresting people without warrants unless there’s a likelihood of escape, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.<\/p>\n U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai issued a preliminary injunction in a proposed class-action lawsuit targeting the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of arresting immigrants they happen to come across while conducting ramped-up enforcement operations \u2014 which critics have described as \u201carrest first, justify later.\u201d<\/p>\n The department, which is named as a defendant in the suit, did not immediately comment in response to a request from The Associated Press.<\/p>\n Similar actions, including immigration agents entering private property without a warrant<\/a> issued by a court, have drawn concern from civil rights groups across the country amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts. <\/a><\/p>\n Courts in Colorado and Washington, D.C., have issued rulings like Kasubhai\u2019s, and the government has appealed them.<\/p>\n In a memo last week, Todd Lyons, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, emphasized that agents should not make an arrest without an administrative arrest warrant<\/a> issued by a supervisor unless they develop probable cause to believe that the person is in the U.S. illegally and likely to escape from the scene before a warrant can be obtained.<\/p>\n But the judge heard evidence that agents in Oregon have arrested people in immigration sweeps without such warrants or determining escape was likely. <\/p>\n